The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
ON March 1 Teresa Woods will retire having been Parish Secretary for the last 17 years.
She took up the role in February of 2005, working for then parish priest Father Tom Ryan, with the Parish Office having opened a couple of months afterwards.
People call into the office for all sorts of reasons, from baptisms to bereavements, buying mass cards and booking weddings.
Looking back on the last 17 years Teresa says the people she has encountered have made the job a really fulfilling experience.
“I’ve worked with incredible people in the parish. First of all the clergy have been terrific. The parishioners as well.”
Shannon has a unique mix of people, and she feels that one consequence of its demographics is that people give each other a chance.
“We’re a very unique parish in that we’re all kind of blow-ins, and we all get on well with each other, we take each other at face value. I think that has been the most amazing thing, the people who live in the parish, the people who have come in here, hearing their stories. They have just been incredible to me. We are a very unique parish, incredibly unique in that way.”
“We wouldn’t know who people’s parents were or things like that, we just take each other as we are without any historical baggage or anything like that, which you’d have in a lot of parishes.”
She praises the generosity of local people who give of their time quietly.
“A big thing as well is the volunteerism that we’ve had in our parish, we’ve had tremendous volunteers over the years, some of them have passed on now, but they’re never forgotten.
“They do incredible work without anybody knowing about it, they go about their business in a very quiet way, doing lots of wonderful work, never looking for glorification or anything like that. That has made Shannon a truly incredible parish.
“Those things have hit me now that I’m going, when I’m looking back on the 17 years what strikes me is the wonderful parishioners we have.”
The people she has encountered through the job have become friends and she loved the interactions that were central to being the parish secretary.
“I’ve made so many lifelong friends through the parish office. It has been a privilege and a pleasure for me, it’s a huge pleasure to have listened to people’s stories and hopefully have helped in some way. It has helped me a lot, it’s one of those jobs that you receive more than you give.
“I have enjoyed people’s good nature and there is incredible generosity, that has been an eye opener.”
She has seen people move through stages of life, and while there has been sadness in her work, she has also been close to people at memorable moments of life.
“I came here when the older people in the parish were just starting to get old, now I see them at another stage of their life and so many have passed on. I have found that hard, it is difficult.
“I have put up various notices on the parish website of deaths and I’ve put up photographs of people who have died and they would be friends. I would have made friends with them over the years and that kind of thing is extremely difficult.”
“On the other hand you have the good news stories as well, the baptisms, people coming in excited about that, or people coming in signing their wedding forms. You see all aspects of life, the full circle of life from baptisms to deaths and everything in between.”
She has no doubt that she will miss the job.
“I certainly will miss it. I have made so many friends, I’m going to be meeting them, our paths are going to cross, as I said to someone I’m not leaving the country! I have made incredible friendships and I’ve huge regard for the people here.”
At the same time she is glad to be moving to another phase.
“It’s a big change and I’m looking forward to it, having a bit of me-time and enjoying it with Gerry (her husband). He’s already retired and I’m looking forward to it. It’s a new chapter.”
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
